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"I don't know" is such an underappreciated phrase (followed with action to remedy that).
by Reedx 8y ago
"I don't know" is such an underappreciated phrase (followed with action to remedy that).
- tonyedgecombe 8y agoPoliticians that use it are extremely rare.
- senderista 8y agoDitto “I was wrong”
- mg794613 8y agoWe had an interviewee (is that a word?) today who said that he didn't know and to me that was a reason to hire him.
- duiker101 8y agoMaybe it is a word, but I think candidate is a more generally accepted term
- mg794613 8y agoAh thank you, I know that word and now I have no idea why I made it difficult for myself :D
- cr0sh 8y agoI'd say quite possibly so...if he also followed that up with "...but I could find out." (or something similar). Saying "I don't know" is one thing - it's good to admit one's lack of knowledge. Being able to then follow it up with the will to expand their knowledge - that is valuable IMHO.
- mg794613 8y agoYes it was clear that he acquired his other knowledge through hard work and interest.
- thanatropism 8y agoI've had recently that experience as well. (We hired him.)
- speedplane 8y ago> We had an interviewee (is that a word?) today who said that he didn't know and to me that was a reason to hire him. I've seen this in interviews too, but my experience on this response is a bit mixed. I appreciate the honesty, but saying you don't know is a dead-end to solving the problem. A better response would be "I don't know X, but it sounds similar to Y which I solved by ...". Even if X and Y are not closely related, it at least shows they have the ability to make these mental connections.
- screye 8y agoI usually take the "I don't know, but I would like to take a stab at it anyways" approach to interviews. I make my competence on a subject clear. Ie. Did an assignment using this tool or read a few blogs so am aware of it and that's it. But a surprising number of times the problem isn't thay difficult despite my ignorance about it. You can often find a very close analogue to the unknown thing and then take it from there or let the tool itself function as a black box and design the requested system around it. The plain "I don't know" - er while noble, can often be mistaken for incompetent when every other bulshitter claims to know it all.